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Customs to generate N10 bn from detained Kano textiles

The
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has commenced assessment of Customs duty and
other charges on textile materials currently in detention in Kano.

The NCS is expected to realise the sum of N10 billion from the goods
which was jointly carried out by a Special Task Force comprising operatives
of the Nigeria Customs Service and the Economic and

Financial
Crime Commission(EFCC).

The
directive to collect duty on the textile products was given by the Comptroller-General
of Customs, Dikko Abdullahi, following consultations with the Federal
Government and importers of the items.

The
imported items are currently discharged in warehouses sealed by the
Nigeria Customs Service in various areas of Kano metropolis.

According
to a statement signed by the National Public Relations Officer of the service, Mr
Wale Adeniyi, the first warehouse opened for the exercise, 14
importers turned up for assessment and duty payment for their textile items
valued at about N1.5billion in the first week .The importers were expected
to pay a
combined import duty of N373, 307, 242.16.

The assessment also show that the goods are liable to the following
additional charges:N26,569,253.73
for 7% surcharge; N14,243,212.64 for 1% CISS levy;N6,767,022.49
for 0.5% ETLS levy; N59,154,231.65 for Textile levy N95,527,905.15 for
Value Added Tax.

Total
revenue payable on the first set of assessment stands at five hundred and
seventy-six million, one hundred and sixty -one thousand, three
hundred and sixty-nine Naira, Seventeen kobo only with another set
of assessment worth over Six hundred million Naira is pending on the
outstanding textiles in the same warehouse.

The
Comptroller-General of Customs' decision to allow the importers of the
detained goods pay duty is based on recent fiscal policy
review removing textile fabrics from import prohibition list .

The move is also expected to shore up Government revenue, which has
witnessed a downturn in recent times.

Last
month, he said 75 warehouses of assorted textile materials were sealed up
in Kano by Customs anti-smuggling operatives, following months of undercover
operations and activation of local and international intelligence
networks. The warehouses were operated
by foreign nationals using a handful of Nigerians as their guarantors.

In view
of the organised nature of the smuggling syndicate, Abdullahi has called for closer inter
Agency collaboration to curb the excesses of foreign economic saboteurs
who break Nigeria’s laws with impunity.